Virtual Hard Disks: potential workaround for cloud storage limitations?

[ownedbycats]

Just something I thought of. On Windows, there's this little feature called a Virtual Hard Disk. Which is.... a disk image. You can mount it, and it works pretty much the same as a physical mounted drive.

They are usable with cloud storage. Some people use it as an additional layer of encryption.

Which makes me wonder: What would happen if you put a copy of Calibre Portable and a library on a virtual hard drive and then put the VHD itself onto the cloud storage?

Since the cloud is only handling the container file, while Windows itself handles the files inside....it should work to prevent most of the issues that come up with Calibre in the cloud. If I'm right, it would even be a potential solution for Google Drive eating the ID numbers.

A few limitations: It can be a bit of a pain to set up in the first place. You could only have the VHD mounted on one system at a time, or the disk file itself would conflict. I'm not sure if Linux or Mac have VHD mounting (and even if it did, Calibre portable only runs on Windows).

I've only got one computer to test this with, though. Would anyone be willing to try it out and post the results?

[Sirtel]

I might try, it seems interesting. Only I probably won't have time before 2021, the end of December is hectic as always.

[Sirtel]

Why would you have to use Calibre Portable, though? I'd like to use the 64-bit Calibre, the portable is only 32-bit.

[capink]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Which makes me wonder: What would happen if you put a copy of Calibre Portable and a library on a virtual hard drive and then put the VHD itself onto the cloud storage?

Since the cloud is only handling the container file, while Windows itself handles the files inside....it should work to prevent most of the issues that come up with Calibre in the cloud. If I'm right, it would even be a potential solution for Google Drive eating the ID numbers.

You do realize that any slight change to the database, let alone adding or removing books, and the whole VHD file will have to be synced all over again. This can be unpractical IMO.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by capink

You do realize that any slight change to the database, let alone adding or removing books, and the whole VHD file will have to be synced all over again. This can be unpractical IMO.

IMO it will be synced incrementally, not the entire file, but only the changes. But I'm certainly no expert on this.

[ownedbycats]

According to this article, Dropbox uses differential syncing (only uploading the changes), so it didn't have to do the entire file every time. Granted, it's three years old and things may have changed.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Why would you have to use Calibre Portable, though? I'd like to use the 64-bit Calibre, the portable is only 32-bit.

Good question. I just figured because Portable handles the changes in drive letters a bit more gracefully. Buts if you always mounted it to the same drive letter....

[capink]

Interesting, never heard of differential syncing before.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by capink

Interesting, never heard of differential syncing before.

Dropbox syncs extremely fast, so I guess it really only syncs the changes.

[ownedbycats]

I have a few large archive files in Dropbox. My own experience is any changes to them tend to sync quickly, though it depends on the compression level.

[ownedbycats]

Official support about it: https://help.dropbox.com/installs-in...ad-entire-file

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by capink

Interesting, never heard of differential syncing before.

Basically copy everything since last full copy.

Because its faster than multi-day roll forward restores, it was (is) used on big-iron mission-critical datasets where restores must be done by 'yesterday'. Not sure if it's used much these days.

2.2 Differential - WikiPedia

BR

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Why would you have to use Calibre Portable, though? I'd like to use the 64-bit Calibre, the portable is only 32-bit.

There is a thread I started int he Calibre forum about getting a 64-bit Calibre portable.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=334021

You install the 32-bit portable and then follow the directions in the thread to update to a 64-bit version. It works for me. I have a 64-bit Calibre portable 4.23 installed.

[ownedbycats]

Oh yeah. I forgot about that.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Basically copy everything since last full copy.

Because its faster than multi-day roll forward restores, it was (is) used on big-iron mission-critical datasets where restores must be done by 'yesterday'. Not sure if it's used much these days.

2.2 Differential - WikiPedia

BR

Incremental/differential also take up quite a bit less disk space than full backups, only having to copy the changed files. Probably not such a big factor for those big-iron mission-critical datasets though, though I think tape backups are still in use some places due to the sheer capacity of it.